ASIA / PACIFIC Page 4 n THE ASIAN REPORTER February 1, 2016 Nepal formally begins much-delayed earthquake reconstruction By Binaj Gurubacharya The Associated Press UNGMATI, Nepal — Nepal has officially launched the much- delayed reconstruction of about 1 million homes and buildings nearly nine months after they were damaged by a devastating earthquake that killed 9,000 people. Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli unveiled plans to rebuild Bungmati, an old town just south of Kathmandu, to initiate the reconstruction campaign that is expected to take years and cost billions of dollars. President Bidhya Devi Bhandari laid the foundation stones for rebuilding a temple and garden with a pond next to it in Kathmandu. It is still not clear when work on other more devastated areas will begin, and people in northern mountain villages who are living in tents in freezing weather likely will have to wait for months. Nepal has been criticized for delaying the much-needed reconstruction work because of disagreements among political parties, drafting the country’s new constitution, ethnic protests, and severe fuel shortages. Foreign donors have pledged $4.1 billion for earthquake reconstruction, but little has reached Nepal because setting up the new National Reconstruction Authority to handle the task took months. “We will move the reconstruction B campaign at full speed. Next year there won’t be damaged houses here. It will be a clean and beautiful town,” Oli told the cheering people in the farming town, where seven people died and 1,166 houses were damaged. Asha Kaji Shakya, a 60-year-old farmer, said he was angry at the government because it was taking months to get any help. “I have a family of seven living in this shade for months. Our family home is damaged and not livable and I have no money,” Shakya said, showing the shelter made from old tin and bricks salvaged from fallen houses. “I am hopeful the government will finally give the money and we can at least begin to build our house,” said Ram Krishna Tuladhar, a shop owner whose four-floor house was reduced to two floors. People like Shakya and Tuladhar have been promised 200,000 rupees ($1,850) in government grants and another 1.5 million rupees ($13,890) in loans from the government. They have not seen the money and the government is still not sure when they will be able to provide it to the families. Sushil Gyewali, who heads the new SLOW RECOVERY. Nepalese people help re- construct the Boudanath Stupa, which was damaged in the April 2015 earthquake in Kathmandu, Nepal. The massive quake killed nearly 9,000 people and damaged about 1 million homes. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha) agency, said they would like to train thousands of construction workers and are sending 1,500 engineers to villages to get damage assessments. “We have been given five years to complete our task. It will not take [a] whole five years and I think in three years all private houses can be reconstructed,” Gyewali said. The agency would also come up with plans and instruction on how new houses should be built, obtaining financial help from the government, and providing any technical help to homeowners. The delay also frustrated foreign donors and international agencies like OXFAM that have been waiting for building guidelines so they can help communities rebuild. “The moment there are no instruction for reconstruction is very problematic for communities because they don’t have guidelines on how to reconstruct their houses,” said the chief of the OXFAM Nepaal office, Cecilia Keizer. “There are no clear-cut instructions from the govern- ment of how they could construct their houses, but also what kind of financial support will come when … It has all been delayed and that for us difficult.” Asians haul out sweaters to cope with sudden cold snap By Grant Peck The Associated Press ANGKOK — After recently sweating through unseasonably high temperatures, residents of semi-tropical Thailand have had to scavenge through their closets for sweaters and scarves to keep the chill off their bones. Much of the rest of Asia was also shivering. In Hong Kong, the mercury dipped to its lowest in six decades. The rest of southern China also recorded unusually cold weather, with record-breaking low temperatures in many places. In Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi, the temperature dropped to 5.4º Celsius (42º Fahrenheit), the lowest since 1977. Meteorologists said mountaintop snowfalls across a dozen northern provinces were unprecedented. Temperatures in Bangkok, Thailand’s capital, hit an unseasonably high of 34.6º C (93º F) only to plunge to a low of 16.1º C (61º F) within two days. The weather remained cool and Bangkok residents could be seen wearing jackets and wool caps. Schools in Bangkok advised parents to bundle up their little ones with extra warm clothing. At piers along the banks of the Chao Phraya River, where packs of dogs cozy up to friendly tourists and vendors grilling food, some canines were dressed up in old shirts and discarded blankets, the work of a kind volunteer caretaker. In provincial areas farther north, cold winter weather is not so unusual. Students in the city of Chiang Mai added fashionable jackets and sweaters to their ensembles, while country folk warmed themselves around bonfires at night. Bangkokians had mixed feelings about the cold. Sampao Jampimai, 43, said the cold temperatures made would-be customers rush past her shoe store without stopping. She said it was so cool that her fingers stiffened in the morning, but it was exciting to have a rare opportunity to don her winter clothes. B TAEHAN TROUBLES. In this image made from Asso- ciated Press Television News video, a North Korean man ice fishes on the frozen Taedong River in Pyongyang, North Ko- rea. The depths of winter have hit North Korea, with temper- atures dropping lower than last year. (Associated Press Television News via AP) Winter returns to Pyongyang with more bite than last year PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — A cold snap in the North Korean capital had residents ice fishing on the Taedong River. The whole country hit colder than minus 16º Celsius (3º Fahrenheit) last month. “This kind of cold can come once or twice a year,” said Ri Yong Nam of the State Hydro-Meteorological Agency. “It seems that the Taehan has not forgotten and now it’s here.” Taehan means “great cold,” and North Koreans are quite familiar with it. Small groups of men brave the cold to squat on the frozen Taedong River running through central Pyongyang in hopes of catching a few fish. They hack holes through 16 inches of ice to send thin lines into the water below. A man pulls out a tiny reward, a fish called sokari in Korean, golden Mandarin fish in English. Thermal underwear, multiple layers, big coats, hats, hoods, scarves, and gloves to cover any remaining exposed skin are necessary to survive the winter in Pyongyang. And there is only so much one can do to come in from the cold: North Korea’s power shortages mean that few public buildings, homes, and offices have much heating. Strong winds also made the cold much more biting in Pyongyang. Ri said this winter is colder than the last. The weather was on track to get warmer, although warmer means closer to the freezing point. FROSTY IN FUJIAN. A woman plays in the light snowfall on a tea plantation in the Pinglin mountain area of New Taipei City, Taiwan. After recently sweating through unseasonably high temperatures, residents of semi-tropical Thailand have had to scavenge through their closets for sweaters and scarves to keep the chill off their bones. Much of the rest of Asia was also shivering. (AP Photo/Wally Santana) Other parts of Asia more accustomed firefighters, 39 ambulances, and rescue to cool winter temperatures were helicopters were deployed for the operation. nonetheless also caught by surprise. In northern Vietnam, many In Japan, the unusual cold brought sleet as far south as Okinawa, a kindergartens and primary schools were subtropical island known for its mild closed when temperatures dropped winters. Another southern island, below 10º C (50º F). Heavy snow Amami-Oshima, recorded its first snow blanketed the popular northern resort in more than a century. city of Sapa, where dozens of cows and Record snowfalls hit Nagasaki and buffaloes reportedly died in the cold. other cities in Kyushu, the southernmost Guangzhou, the capital of China’s of Japan’s four main islands. Some industrial powerhouse, Guangdong communities in Kyushu were without province, saw its first snowfall in half a water service, state broadcaster NHK century, while other southern and reported, after the rare deep freeze burst central areas, including coastal Fujian water pipes, draining supplies. and mountainous Chongqing in the west, Temperatures dipped below freezing also experienced rare sprinklings of snow at higher elevations in Hong Kong, and ice. prompting throngs of the curious Flights were disrupted and power to unaccustomed to such chilly tempera- about 80,000 households in the tourist tures to head to the city’s highest heartland of Yunnan province was mountain to try to catch a glimpse of knocked out. frost. At least one death was blamed on the Many were also hoping to see snow weather, that of a woman in Chongqing after rumors started circulating on social who fell through the bars on the balcony media that it was on the way, but the of her 24th-floor apartment while government dismissed the reports. watching the snow fall. Some 129 people had to be rescued, Associated Press writers Hrvoje Hranjski including 67 runners in an in Bangkok, Tran Van Minh in Hanoi, ultramarathon that had to be cancelled Vietnam, Kelvin K. Chan in Hong Kong, halfway through, the government and Ken Moritsugu in Tokyo, and Christopher Bodeen in Beijing contributed to this report. news reports said. More than 300